The present invention is directed to a weight management system which educates the participant in nutrition and in developing a lifestyle necessary to reach and consistently maintain one's weight. More particularly the invention provides an analysis of physical parameters, past eating and exercise habits and taste preferences to determine an individualized weight loss program specifically for an individual.
It is well known that a large percentage of the population is overweight or is prone to be overweight and constantly trying to lose weight by experimenting with various diet programs to reduce their caloric and carbohydrate intake. In addition to diet programs there are numerous dietetic foods, drugs, weight reduction programs and machines offered to aid people in reducing their weight.
In studying the overweight population the medical field is generally of the opinion that an effective method of controlling weight requires the balance of the amount of food consumed with the amount of exercise a person is involved in. When an imbalance occurs and there is a greater intake of calories than required for the amount of energy expended in the average day, an increase in weight occurs. Maintaining a reasonable balance between the caloric intake and the energy expended during the day is necessary in order to lose weight and maintain a constant weight.
Numerous charts and publications have been provided to give accurate data on the caloric content of foods and beverages. In addition, charts have been assembled to provide information on the numbers of calories burned for particular activities and particularly for light and strenuous exercise. Many individuals have successfully attained their desired weight and been able to maintain that weight by balancing the caloric intake with the amount of exercise they average during the week.
One of the more common approaches to losing weight is to obtain a book or chart which lists the number of calories per serving of particular food items. The dieter then resorts to looking up food items at each meal to determine whether that food item should be consumed and if so how much. The dieter must then accurately record what has been consumed and the activities performed throughout the entire day in order to control the daily intake of calories. To be truly effective, data of this type must be accurate and must b continuously accounted for 24 hours every day. This inconvenience most likely is responsible for the fact that only a relatively small number of persons use this technique, even though it is an effective solution to the problem of weight control.
To ease the burden of record taking, hand-held calculators have been proposed which maintain a running balance of calories consumed thoughout the day. Some of these calculators, for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,020 to Ratcliff, provide a memory for the number of calories in a serving of particular items. Thus the dieter enters a code corresponding to a particular food item and the calculator records the number of calories and food. This enables the dieter to maintain a running balance of food consumed throughout the day.
Many of these proposed diet programs are defficient in that they fail to account for the sources of calorie intake and the different nutritional values each food item supplies. These programs are generally intended to fit a wide range of individuals which often work for some people but do not provide satisfactory results for others. Thus there is a constant debate as to which is the best and most effective diet for weight loss and maintaining a desired weight. Many dieters attempt to take nutritional factors into account when planning a meal but this planning oftentimes is undertaken with inadequate knowledge and requires a greater amount of discipline and mental effort than the dieter is able to put forth. None of the known weight loss programs take into account the amount of exercise a person normally gets during the day and tailors the diet according to that amount of exercise while at the same time taking into account nutritional values of the food, the source of the calories and the taste preferences of the individual.
The selection of foods offered by the diet are usually quite limited. Dieters tend to select only a few preferred items from the accepted list which makes the diet rapidly become boring and monotonous. Additionally, the narrow selection of foods offered or selected results in skipping meals or having meals tending not to be nutritionally balanced. Medical specialists are of the firm belief that this is not a healthy and effective manner in which to control weight.
Thus a serious need exists for a weight management system which can be tailored to the individual to accommodate for the amount of exercise, the number of calories required to maintain a desired weight and the taste preferences of the individual. There is further a need for a weight managing system which is healthy and enjoyable such that the participant will stay with the program for a length of time necessary to initially lose the desired weight and will also continue to follow the system to maintain that weight. Past weight loss programs have not provided for the specific needs of the individual. None of these programs provide a detailed analysis of the participants past history including their level of exercise normally encountered and comparing it with their physical characteristics and taste preferences for foods. Such an analysis would allow the development of a customized program for the individual to enable them to comfortably alter their lifestyle and eating habits thereby losing and maintaining a desired weight.